The Yardbirds, with original member Jim McCarty, at Infinity Hall — Hartford July 9

Published
12:56 pm EDT, Thursday, July 6, 2017

The Yardbirds, from left, are Myke Scavone, Kenny Aaronson, Jim McCarty, Johnny A and John Idan.

The Yardbirds, from left, are Myke Scavone, Kenny Aaronson, Jim McCarty, Johnny A and John Idan.

Photo: Photo Courtesy Of Arnie Goodman

Photo: Photo Courtesy Of Arnie Goodman

Image
1of/3

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 3

The Yardbirds, from left, are Myke Scavone, Kenny Aaronson, Jim McCarty, Johnny A and John Idan.

The Yardbirds, from left, are Myke Scavone, Kenny Aaronson, Jim McCarty, Johnny A and John Idan.

Photo: Photo Courtesy Of Arnie Goodman

The Yardbirds, with original member Jim McCarty, at Infinity Hall — Hartford July 9

1 / 3

Back to Gallery

HARTFORD >> It may be hard to believe that The Yardbirds, one of the most influential of all the British Invasion blues-based rock bands — the band that gave us Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck AND Jimmy Page — is still around (or back around, as the case may be) to play for us in 2017.

But Jim McCarty will be there, playing the drums on “Train Kept A’ Rollin’,” “Heart Full of Soul,” “For Your Love,” “Over Under Sideways Down” and “Shapes of Things,” just as he has on and off since 1963. And the guys surrounding him in the 2017 version of the band are pretty darned good at what they do, as well.

Showtime is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $44-69, available in advance at infinityhall.com or by calling 866-666-6306. Infinity Hall is located at 32 Front St.

The current flock of Yardbirds includes Massachusetts-based lead guitarist Johnny A; bassist Kenny Aaronson; singer, percussionist and blues harp player Myke Scavone; and guitarist and singer John Idan, in addition to McCarty. The last other original member, Dreja, who revived the band with McCarty in 1996, stopped touring in 2013.

At this point, “he’s had some strokes,” McCarty said earlier this week from Toronto, which has become sort of a second home when he’s not at his permanent home in France.

“So that leaves just me.”

Why does he soldier on?

“I still love being part of that music...” said McCarty, who went on to co-found Renaissance after The Yardbirds’ first breakup in 1968. “I’ve been doing it the whole time. It’s sort of part of my life.”

Even more than 50 years later, with a different band than the one he started with, “It always feels quite fresh. It always feels exciting. It’s something that never seems to go stale,” he said of The Yardbirds’ music. “It’s very well played and there’s always a great chemistry within the group ... and people seem to enjoy it.

“It’s very good because the guys are very honorable to the music.”

For that matter, “They probably grew up with it ... and lived it and breathed it,” he said. “It’s very good to play with them.”

One of the things he’s doing in Toronto is working on a book, an autobiography, with Rob Bowman, a professor who teaches about rock music at York University there — and from Toronto, “I can commute into America,” McCarty said.